The present invention relates to a fuse for projectiles. Fuses for projectiles are well known in the art. Such a fuse is known from German patent 36 07 372. In this patent, a primary battery was provided for supplying the fuse electronics during programming At the same time, the primary battery was feeding a digital display for the programmed running time. The running time was stored within a random access memory and could be changed by an override-program as long as the fuse electronics were being supplied by the primary battery.
Further, it was known from German patent 34 42 390, to load an ignition capacitor by rectifying the electromagnetic waves produced by an oscillating unit and received within an oscillatory circuit. A release circuit produces an ignition pulse from the charge of the ignition capacitor at the absence of the electromagnetic waves. A time setting, or an operation with different functions of the fuse, is not provided. Often, it was required for fuses to have multiple functions, i.e., the fuse had to be able to operate as a time fuse, a proximity fuse or an impact fuse. However, it would happen occasionally that due to a changed fire command, a programmed running time became invalid because an impact function is required.
It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to design a fuse of the above indicated type, in such a way that after the expiration of a predetermined time interval, a changed fire command is executed and a programmed running time is ignored.